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Laptop not holding charge

I apologize if this is not the right area for this topic; I wasn't sure. This isn't specifically a Windows 7 issue, though the system does have that OS. I am trying to troubleshoot an issue with a friend's laptop. According to her, she hasn't been able to get it to boot up at all for the last 2 years. It will not charge or even run off power through the adapter. It seems it's not getting any power at all.

I'm not sure if this could be an issue with the battery, or perhaps something else. We've determined that it is not the adapter. So my thoughts are that it's either the battery or maybe an issue with the terminal or somewhere in between. Any thoughts on this?

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It could be that the DC jack has worked loose, it's soldered to the board & is a frequent issue to deal with on some models. Though I've seen this happen on Dell notebooks far more than HP's.

The removal/inserting of the power cable causes the jack to loosen over time, which is why one must be particular in handling these, they must be removed straight out gently & inserted in the same manner. Too all it takes is a bump with the cable in on that spot to cause this to happen.

It would also be safe to say by now that the CMOS battery, which holds all settings, is dead, being that it's not been used for this length of time. In fact, should be the first thing to check. These are inexpensive to replace on most models, if you do it yourself.

Cat

Performing full disc images weekly and keeping important data off of the 'C' drive as generated can be the best defence against Malware/Ransomware attacks, as well as a wide range of other issues.

Try unplugging the power cable, then removing the battery, not the CMOS battery, but the big laptop battery. Then turn the laptop back over, plug in the power cord, and try to boot. Sometimes this works when that battery has gone dead.

Good luck.

Everyone with a computer should back his system up to an external hard drive regularly.